Jetty

NEWPORT BEACH — For most people, it's just a row of rocks. But for one family, the west jetty at the Newport Harbor entrance signifies foolishness, death and perseverance. Bob Rogers told its back story at a Newport Beach Historical Society event Thursday evening. On this, the 75th anniversary of the jetty's completion, he reminded people about his relative George Rogers, a man who lost his son in a boating accident and spent the rest of his life building a safe harbor opening.

Coral Wilson When Cole Lane fell in the water minutes before his abandoned sailboat crashed into the eastern jetty Monday morning, it wasn't a powerboat, but a man on a rubber tube who came to his rescue. Larry Allen, a school teacher from Fullerton, was fishing and floating around when he heard Lane's loud cries for help. Residents rushed out of their homes and called 911 for help, Allen said. Allen was the first to arrive at the scene. He paddled over, caught the runaway dinghy and pulled Lane out of the cold water.

A salvage operation for a 60-foot cabin cruiser that crashed into the west jetty at the Newport Harbor entrance on Aug. 11 was completed Monday by a private company. Crescendo, the boat valued at $3 million, sank off the rocks of the jetty while Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol rescued several passengers on board, Watch Commander Fritz von Ruttberg said. No one was injured and all six passengers of the vessel made it safely off the boat, von Ruttberg said. The private salvage company had to first control a diesel spill from the boat, and prepare the craft to be towed before it could be lifted from the water, authorities said.

Divers with the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol retrieved what may be human remains Friday afternoon in Corona del Mar, near the location where a man and woman were swept from the east jetty in heavy surf in April. The three divers entered the water around 1:15 p.m. to continue the search for Irvine resident Yi Ni Kwong, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Erin Giudice said. Officials believe Kwong, 49, and Sean Shungfei Yeh, 53, of Fremont, were fishing April 10 when a wave knocked them into the water.

Authorities have stopped searching for a man and woman who may have drowned after being swept off the east jetty in Corona del Mar Tuesday. The two people may have been fishing and somehow ended up in the water, possibly because of the large swell, Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol Lt. Erin Giudice said. Someone called 911 at about 9:15 a.m. and reported people struggling in the water, she said. Safety officials searched all the way to Laguna Beach because Tuesday's strong currents could have carried them that way in minutes, Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

A body found just off the coast of Catalina Island may be that of lost sailor William Eugene Ott, whose boat crashed last week into the jetty rocks at Newport Harbor, officials said Tuesday. The body was spotted by passengers of a fishing boat around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday in the waters just off Avalon, the island's main town, Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. Authorities have been searching for Ott, 61, of Phoenix since Thursday, when his sailing boat crashed into the west jetty at the Wedge.

A 44-foot vessel ran into the shoreline and injured one person Saturday afternoon in Newport Beach. According to officials from the Newport Beach Fire Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol, lifeguards spotted a boat traveling toward the shoreline near 46th Street at around 12:15 p.m. The lifeguards positioned themselves alongside the boat and tried to warn its operator to change course, but the operator, identified by the...

A body recovered from the surf Friday in Corona del Mar has been positively identified as Fremont resident Sean Shungfei Yeh, who has been missing and presumed drowned since he and a companion were swept off a jetty by high surf. Yeh, 53, was seen fishing with Yi Ni Kwong, 49, of Irvine on the east jetty Tuesday morning when unexpectedly big waves apparently knocked the two into the water. A search that stretched to Laguna Beach on Tuesday was called off after about three hours because the pair were presumed drowned in the strong currents and large swell, authorities said.

Once upon a time it seemed like I kept my whole calendar in my head. Now, if I don't immediately write down something it's gone from my memory. Some uninformed observers might attribute this to advancing age. I attribute it to a game we played in my youth. Prior to 1927, going in or out of the harbor could be treacherous. The west jetty was in deplorable shape, and there was no east (Corona del Mar) jetty. Boats overturned, people drowned. Then in 1928, the city engineer decided to make it safer and built the concrete portion of the east jetty.

NEWPORT BEACH — For most people, it's just a row of rocks. But for one family, the west jetty at the Newport Harbor entrance signifies foolishness, death and perseverance. Bob Rogers told its back story at a Newport Beach Historical Society event Thursday evening. On this, the 75th anniversary of the jetty's completion, he reminded people about his relative George Rogers, a man who lost his son in a boating accident and spent the rest of his life building a safe harbor opening.

It's not very likely a lifeguard will spot someone swept to sea by a rip current in the middle of the winter. That's when guards operate with a stripped-down workforce and can only patrol some parts of the city's beaches once a day. If Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff's budget proposal is passed, the odds of rescue will be even longer. And he's OK with that. By cutting full-time staff during the off-season, Kiff believes Newport can save money while still meeting its public safety obligations.

October is here, which signals the start of our local lobster season. I cannot wait to savor the local lobster. I love to eat Panulirus interruptus Panulirus interruptus , the species of clawless lobster that inhabits our coastal waters. The California spiny lobster will begin showing up on dinner plates Saturday until the season’s final day, March 17. Before you head out lobster hunting, I have an overview of the regulations, and remember that there are different regulations for the commercial guys.

Waves from Tropical Storm Ignacio off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, have once again highlighted how perilous riding them can be — at Newport Beach’s Wedge in particular. Wednesday, a man suffered a possible spinal injury when he spilled over a wave and went tumbling into the ocean floor and came floating up, face down, lifeguard officials said. Waves were unexpectedly large Wednesday and Thursday, up to 15 feet at the Wedge on the end of the Balboa Peninsula, when a southern swell hit the coast thanks to the cooling tropical storm from down south.

About two years ago, a pair that was fishing off the east jetty in Corona del Mar was knocked off by a wave and drowned. Within three days, the man’s body was found, but the woman’s was not. Authorities hoped the body would eventually wash ashore, but it never did. Two months after that April 2007 disappearance, Orange County Sheriff Harbor Patrol divers took advantage of the calm, clear waters and went searching around the jetty....

A man who died after a large set of waves slammed him into the rocky jetty at Newport’s world-famous body surfing spot the Wedge on Friday has been identified as a 50-year-old Lawndale resident. Monte Valentin was apparently body surfing at the Wedge about noon on Friday when he got pinned in by the rocks after a large set of waves, some up to 25 feet high, said Jennifer Schulz, spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire Department. Lifeguards pulled the body surfer onto a boat and gave him CPR. Paramedics took the man to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead.

Newport Beach is facing two claims for millions of dollars from separate incidents off the coastline last year. The parents of Victor Wang, a 17-year-old from Claremont, are asking the city to hand over $20 million after their son died in March 2008 when he was swept away near the 28th Street jetty. According to the claim, Wang was swimming in the area that afternoon and disappeared. His body was found hours later. His parents claim there were no flags posted or visible signs showing there was high surf or high wind conditions that day. The family said in the complaint the amount takes into consideration pain and suffering from losing their son and costs incurred from paramedics trying to revive their son. News reports at the time said Wang was there with two friends, who lifeguards managed to rescue off the jetty.

A teenager died Saturday evening after being swept up in a current driven by high winds near the 28th Street jetty, lifeguards said. The incident was the third major rescue operation by lifeguards in a week. Lifeguard Battalion Chief Jim Turner said the teen, identified as 17-year-old Victor Wang of Claremont by the Orange County Coroner’s Office, was carried from the 28th Street area to the Newport Pier, where he was found unconscious just outside lifeguard headquarters.

“We don’t want to die! We don’t want to die!” the kids begged, the current hurling them toward the 28th Street jetty. “Trust me honey, I don’t want you to die either,” Newport Beach lifeguard John Moore replied. A 9-year-old San Bernardino boy and his 7-year-old sister were rescued from drowning in Newport Beach Wednesday after they lost hold of their boogie boards and pounding 4-foot waves and currents shoved them toward the serrated jetty west of Newport Beach pier.